Greening 4/26/22

We are in Asheville, North Carolina now - having left Florida a week ago.

We had a wonderful anniversary trip in Disneyworld that left us both exhausted and happy at the same time. We pulled out of the campsites at Fort Wilderness Disney World a couple of Saturday’s ago, and took two days to drive up to Asheville. Stopping at a brewery in Georgia for the night.

We had been to Asheville in 2020 when we first headed out in Bigger Betty. But it was late August. The air was humid. There were lots of bugs. And there was a pandemic going on. Everything was closed.

We have wanted to circle back but the timing never seemed to work out - until now.

And let me tell you - late April and early May seems to be the perfect time to come to this corner of the Blue Ridge. We have had days of sunshine and highs in the upper 70’s. And days of rain and mist where the thermometer didn’t get out of the 60’s. Everything is blooming, the land around us is waking up, and the ducks and the Canadian Geese are hatching babies. There are two groups of Canadian Geese families floating about on the pond in front of our camper and a momma duck with her four little ducklings. And yesterday morning I watched a Tree Starling preparing a nest in an tree just at the edge of our campsite. Soon there will be eggs in there as well.

And so far, there are no bugs. Or at least the kind that bite. Just lots of fat chunky bumblebees.

During all of this I have been keeping vigil with a momma goose that has been sitting patiently on her nest since we arrived. She is on a little island about thirty feet away from the shore, tucked up in the brush but just visible with a pair of binoculars. Her mate (and they do mate for life) gets all worked up from time to time when the other goose families come around. He hangs out with them for a bit and then starts honking and pumping his neck up and down as he swims over to where his mate is patiently keeping her eggs warm. He seems to be saying “woman, what is taking so long.”. I don’t think that he has the same faith that she does. That all things will come to fruition in due time. That some things take patience. That birthing - or hatching in her case - is not an overnight activity.

But she seems completely unconcerned about all of this. In fact, the only time I saw her get worked up was when some men were spraying the weeds from a boat the other day and had a mishap with their motor. There was a loud bang and she went flying off of her nest. It took her a long time to return - and I got worried she would give up completely - but finally the boat left and she slowly made her way back to her perch.

And then it happened. This morning while I was in prayer I looked out the window and saw what looked like a yellow fuzzy head bopping around. And the momma was moving about and lifting her wings. I pulled out the binoculars and watched as we finished up prayer. By the time we were done three more heads were popping up and down. And then she sat back down, calm as can be. And I have been checking on her throughout the day with the binoculars and she seems to be in no big hurry to get off that nest.

Maybe there are still more eggs waiting to hatch. Maybe it is the rain that came in this afternoon. Maybe she just wants to linger there a little long before the busyness of keeping track of multiple goslings becomes the norm. But for the time being, she has tucked those little goslings under her wings, spread her body wide, and seems content to just wait until the time is right to swim off into the pond with her new family. And that impatient mate of hers is just going to have to wait.

Somehow this entire thing has felt so holy. A reminder that the scriptures tell us that God cares for us like a mother hen. And what a beautiful image to hold - all of us tucked up under the wings of the Divine - safe and warm and at home.

But another thing happened as she and I kept vigil together. I found myself spending more time outside with her, watching the spring awaken. And as I did so - I found myself longing for my journal - which has not been in my lap for some time. And then, all of a sudden, I found a couple of poems making their way into the world. And now today I find myself writing here again.

Maybe I was sitting on my nest of eggs and didn’t realize it. Maybe I just needed to find myself on the edge of a pond as the trees slowly open their buds, and the mountains turned from gray to green, for my own budding and greening to happen again.

I am trying to not overthink it. I just want to be grateful that I am writing again. That I am not struggling to put a sentence together or come up with inspiration.

I am leaning into this being enough.

I don’t want to waste it by trying to peer into the future to see if it will last.

I just want to keep watching. Keep being curious about what is sprouting and bursting forth with life around me and in me. And let that emerging find its way into my work.

That somehow feels holy too.

And now - here you go. Another new poem all about greening and the Divine Feminine and our enoughness.

The Persistence of Green

A crack in the sidewalk where a poppy grows
The blades of grass jumping the lawns edge
A tenacious tree clinging to the edge of the cliff
Weeds.

The persistence of green at work in the world.

Mother nature still hungry for feminine words
Green words
Fertile words.

 I imagine a voluptuous woman
So many folds of flesh you could fall
Completely into the dimples of her
Ample body and still have room to spare.

Lay there in her lap
Head resting on her breasts
The warmth of her belly
Seeping into your bones
Each rise and fall of her breath
connecting to your own.

Rest
Look around
Notice her skin covered in
Verdant green tattoos
Every inch covered in soft words.

Compassionate words
Kind words
Words of belonging
Words of forgiveness
Words of unconditional love.

Let your eyes wander across her limbs
The way the weeds jump the garden bed
And flourish despite the pruning.

Pick three words– no more
Weave together their enoughness
Into abundance
Let the cuticles of your fingers sprout green.

The world needs more green words
The world needs persistence.
The world needs you
The softer the better.

Finished 4/20/22 Asheville, North Carolina